Philadelphia. The late 1870s. Home to the famous anatomist and surgeon Dr Spencer Black. The son of a "resurrectionist", Dr Black develops an unconventional hypothesis. What if the world's most celebrated mythological beasts - mermaids, minotaurs, and satyrs - were in fact the evolutionary ancestors of humankind? This book tells his story. Discover a nineteenth-century Philadelphia surgeon’s lost codex and his macabre quest to prove a controversial hypothesis by any means necessary in this dark fantasy book.

Part stunning coffee table art book, part fictional biography, this gaslamp bestiary features grotesquely detailed anatomical illustrations and a chilling horror novella.

“Disturbingly lovely . . . a cabinet of curiosities, stitching history and mythology and sideshow into an altogether different creature.”—Erin Morgenstern, author of The Night Circus

Presented as the recovered life story and scientific work of the infamous Dr. Black, The Resurrectionist offers two extraordinary experiences in one volume. The first part is a chilling fictional biography of Dr. Spencer Black, from his childhood spent exhuming corpses through his medical training, his travels with carnivals, his cruel and crazed experiments, and, finally, his mysterious disappearance. The second part is Black’s magnum opus: The Codex Extinct Animalia, a Gray’s Anatomy for mythological beasts, all rendered in meticulously detailed anatomical illustrations that resemble pages from a Victorian medical textbook.

• A unique blend of mythology, horror, fantasy, and speculative history
• Collectible oversized format perfect for display and gifting
• Ideal for fans of museum curiosities, anatomy art, and illustrated fantasy